Short question about some specific vocabulary

[linguaholic]

人为什么会做梦，梦有什么意义，人类 49 了近千年也还没有找到答案.

This is an HSK 5 question of a mock exam for the reading part.

You have to fill in the gap (49) with one of the following:

想象，观察，思考 or 幻想。

In this case the right answer was 思考. I am just wondering if somebody can explain to me why 观察 is not correct here. I was very sure that 想象 and 幻想 are wrong here but I thought that 观察 could be the correct answer as well.

[BWL]

I'm no Mandarin professor, but from what I understand from colloquial usage, 思考 is used to mean something like thinking over or pondering about something. It would be used for abstracts and non-tangible things like dreams.

观察 means observation and as least the way most of my friends use it, applies to physical things like to observe a specimen under a microscope. It is used for physical and tangible things while 思考 is used in a philosophical way.

I hope this helps!

[pandandesign]

I'm no Mandarin professor, but from what I understand from colloquial usage, 思考 is used to mean something like thinking over or pondering about something. It would be used for abstracts and non-tangible things like dreams.

观察 means observation and as least the way most of my friends use it, applies to physical things like to observe a specimen under a microscope. It is used for physical and tangible things while 思考 is used in a philosophical way.

I hope this helps!

I agree. 观察 may not be the correct answer as far as dreams go. I think the reason is that 观察 only applies to things you actually see. Dreams are kind of like visualization inside your mind. You can't really 观察 your mind, which makes sense that 思考 is probably the suitable answer. 思考 requires thoughts that are likely to appear in the dreams. The reason you have the dream is that you think of something or you have thought a lot lately.

Have you heard of "日有所思，夜有所梦"? That's the answer right there!

[linguaholic]

I have not heard about 日有所思，夜有所梦 yet, but this will certainly help me to remember this kind of thing. 感谢你。

[phoenixinsky]

观察means watch for some research or the other goals. And 思考 means think about, adding to some kind question behind it. In the phase, 人为什么会做梦，梦有什么意义 actually are two questions, so, 思考 is right, because you can't watch （观察）questions, you just can think or answer them.